Ecnephias
Dominium Noctis

'Dominium Noctis' is the first full-length album by the Italian metal band composed of Mancan, Akeron, Atlos, Namgyal. Their offering is a blend of death, black, and gothic.

Let's move to the album, which opens with a short intro where Mancan intones dark death vocals over a backdrop of Tibetan vocalizations. 'Burn witch burn', the second track, kicks off in a gothic style, with bass, drums, and guitar layering a dark and uniform pace, yet melodic intervals with sampling and guitar will not be missing. On the vocal front, Mancan alternates growls for the English lyrics, using his timbre for those in Latin, oh yes. Here, the lyrics remain dark and demonic.

'Veneficia', the third track, is melodically complex, transitioning from melodic sampling to gothic, and the vocal lines transpose clean and death lyrics in a dark call-and-response; the final backdrop is truly gloomy.

'Between shadows' has a sound focused on a doom style, along with a perfect chorus for growls. At the end of the track, we find the beautiful melodic sampling again.

'Ice forest rituals' changes coordinates, offering the sheet music of pure black metal, not removing the Latin lyrics, which instead seal the ending radiantly in a sort of medieval sacred chant with an acoustic backdrop.

'Under the sign of the archangel' restores the doom and death coordinates as well as the established alternation with clean Latin vocals, which here are expressed in unison with the guitar melody. The piece then undergoes a melodical rhythm change and subsequently a doom one, where Mancan repeats some gloomy verses.

'Ragnatele su velluto scarlatto' is a vampire track almost entirely instrumental.

'Pleasure and pain' presents a doom that's even more aggressive and terrifying, while the gothic turns horror. I also note some curious insights from Mancan in pronunciation.

'To the forgotten' is another complex track, featuring heavy riffs and chilling black screams as well as clean voice for Latin.

'Notte a craco' plays some staggered notes on the piano and closes the album.

As I hope to have conveyed, this album is something shapeless, mutable, yet executed perfectly in its changes and with highly inspired lyrics. The only flaw of the album lies with those listeners who purchase it without at least being goth metal enthusiasts, as they can't help but vomit while listening to it.